‘I killed the dog and stabbed a mate because I’m a nut case’

A DRUG-addict described himself as "an evil putrid nut case" after he killed and dismembered his housemate's dog, while psychotic from a cocktail of illegal and prescription substances, a court has heard.

On Friday, the District Court heard James Alexander Rech, 20, had also stabbed a friend, kept him captive and used a blowtorch to cauterise the wound, in a separate attack less than 24 hours before the hideous killing of the staffordshire terrier.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Rech's friend said his scar "reminds me of the most pain I have felt in my life" and suffered "traumatic memories and dreams which only involve a knife".

He said he feared for his life when he was "slashed" and thrown "like a piece of meat into the bath".

"He treated me like I was a stain on the dirty floor."

The victim's mother said her son's desperate calls for help after he escaped Rech were "sickening" and described his injuries as "shocking".

She said her son was "so scared and covered in blood and the smell was horrific".

The court heard Rech's unprovoked and bloody crimes came during a three-day drug binge in which he consumed more than three grams of methamphetamine, prescription drugs, including Xanax, as well as cannabis and alcohol.

Prosecutor Georgina Venn said Rech laughed at his friends's agonised moans during the "extremely callous" three-hour attack in July last year.

Rech was arrested while walking along a Hampstead Gardens street, carrying the dog's head in one hand and the meat cleaver he used to dismember the pet in the other.

Judge Sophie David heard that Rech later told a psychiatrist that he liked fighting because "it feels good".

He also told the psychiatrist that he "just snaps, goes from being good James to being an evil, putrid nut case" when on drugs.